Constitution and government
Addressing a function recently, Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey expressed his dismay that people blame everything on failure to promulgate the new constitution. It’s all so ridiculous, he added. His advice was to keep working as usual while constitution writing is in progress. In reality there is no environment to initiate anything worthwhile because of the perennial uncertainty.
Two killed, nine injured in two separate accidents
He seems to have a point. Constitution at present seems like a mirage. Despite claims by political parties that they have reached end of constitution writing, the bare fact is that parties are poles apart on such sensitive issues as delineation of federal states, model of government and electoral system. The politicians have chosen a divisive strategy, by putting hostility over compromise and a politics of duality over co-existence. To add insult to injury, the opposition parties are dead against the voting process on undecided issues. This is surprising.
During CA II elections, major political parties had promised constitution within a year, even by resorting to voting process, if consensus efforts failed. But when time came to deliver, political parties not only shied away from what they had promised but also became main opponents of the process. Besides, they showcased their ugly side by hurling chairs and breaking mikes in the Assembly, leaving an indelible imprint on the minds of Nepali citizens. In fact, when consensus is impossible, the only option is to have constitution by two-thirds majority. But this isn’t acceptable to the opposition comprising UCPN (Maoist) and 29 other smaller parties.
Couple of weeks ago, the 30-party alliance led by UCPN (Maoist) staged a ‘show of strength’ by arranging a protest rally in Kathmandu, where Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal warned that the protest was only a “lull before the storm”. Though the opposition claimed to have brought about 200,000 people to Kathmandu, the real figure was perhaps under 50,000. No untoward incident took place, despite Dahal’s warning that arson, burning vehicles and injuring people during riots are all part of ‘peaceful protests’. He had also warned of a parallel government in case the ruling parties promulgate constitution by voting process. What a frivolous statement by a former prime minister and leader of the opposition! Further, his warning to take over government offices across the country and impose economic blockade has made people think about his commitment to democracy. Such statements would make some even question his sanity.
People’s patience for a consensual constitution is running out; the bitter truth is that right from the first CA meeting, politicians have neither contributed to improvement in governance nor made any progress in drafting new constitution—the main task of the Assembly. The reason again is our politicians’ insatiable hunger for power inclination; no one seems serious about making a worthwhile contribution to the constitution process, or on good governance. Even Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has accepted failure to work as per the wish of the people and the party. But accepting your failure is one thing, doing something about it a completely different matter.
People want jobs, better medical care, quality education for their children, availability of essential things like kerosene, cooking gas, water, electricity and petroleum, and above all, to lift the people from poverty, much more than timely constitution. Once the people can have these things, I am sure they won’t bother whenever the constitution is promulgated. For all practical purposes the country already has an Interim Constitution, which was made based on the mandate of the second Jana Andolan.
Currently, hundreds of thousands of youths are working in foreign countries and the out-migration continues apace. In addition, thousands of students have been going abroad to pursue their studies, besides the thousands leaving for medical treatment. This is not all. People have been bearing the brunt of load-shedding for over a decade and the hours of load-shedding are increasing by the year. This year there is load-shedding for up to 12 hours a day. Drinking water is distributed once a week, at odd hours, forcing people to wait for the white gold in freezing night temperature during the winter season.
The cooking gas is scarce. The gas has been in short supply for the past six months but the government does not seem much bothered by it. The shortage, apparently, is due to rampant black-marketing. The concerned ministry is helpless to take on hoarders of gas or to increase supply through more import. No one does anything, including the prime minister. That is because once such an action is taken, one more party will be added in the list of opposition. In this situation, the ministers only seem concerned about prolonging their tenure in the government.
This clearly indicates politicians have failed to perform two jobs: to govern and to write the constitution. If they cannot do either, then there is a way out. The political leaders should give all their attention to completing the constitution, while the responsibility of government should be entrusted to technocrats and civil society members, until the time the constitution is finalized. This will prompt to complete the charter at the earliest since they would be desperate to come back to government.
In this arrangement, politicians will also have no incentive to arouse people to go for protests and have less leverage in the process. If the successful Khil Raj Regmi technocratic government in the past is any guide, another similar government could let the politicians focus on the constitution and will prevent unnecessary protests.
This arrangement will reinvigorate constitution writing which has been revolving around power issues. In other words, the culture of concentrating on the government must be done away with. Only then will political parties which are obsessed with power, and which have flouted their electoral promise of timely statute will have the incentive to promulgate the new constitution without any more delays.
The author is former foreign secretary bhagirath_51@live.com
